September 2026 - Quarterly Communications

At the recent UGLE Quarterly Communications, there was a presentation entitled CONTEMPORARY FREEMASONRY. I thought I should check what “contemporary” actually meant. Apparently, it means “belonging to the present time” or “modern” — which was a relief, as I had briefly wondered whether it referred to a particularly stylish piece of furniture.

The presenters asked, “How should we communicate Freemasonry in the modern world?” As with all respectable presentations, three suitably polished and trendy phrases were introduced: 1 — Lead with “The Why”; 2 — Be Visible; and 3 — “Open the Door”.

I’m sure all three ideas have merit, but the one that stayed with me was "Be Visible". That is exactly what I’m trying to do with this website. No ‘blue-sky thinking’ is required, nobody needs to think ‘outside the box’, and there will be no ‘touching base’ unless tea and plain chocolate biscuits are proffered.

My aim is to show off the different Units of Freemasonry in which I’m involved, but in a rather more light-hearted way than many traditional Masonic websites manage. In short, I want to show the world that we have fun. Of course, the charitable giving, friendships and banter are all enormously important. But if we didn’t enjoy taking part, none of it would happen — or at least not without an alarming number of reminder emails.

Please help by telling others about the site and letting me know what you like, what you dislike and what you think could be improved. Honest feedback is welcome, although complaints may take me considerably longer to reply to – if at all. I know I’m only a very small cog in a very large organisation, but every cog is there for a reason, and each must play its part.

Besides, even a small cog can make quite a lot of noise when it gets going.